The city of Bam crumbled in an earthquake, and for the first
time since the hostage seizures, there's an American
aircraft landing in Iran. The Americans unloaded disaster
supplies from a military C-130.
In a pleasing show of international solidarity,
relief aircraft swiftly rushed in to Iran from all over the world.
"This is the total list of international helping from the other countries up to 22p.m Saturday 2003/12/27 :"
Country†††† †††††††††††††Flights
Turkey††††††††††††††††††† 7 flights:3-C130,1-C160,1LJ25,1LJ35
Chek††††††††††††††††††††† 1TU154
Rusha†††††††††††††††††††† 2 IL76
Swithzerland††††††††††† 2 C60
Italy††††††††††††††††††††††† 1 C130
England††††††††††††††††† 1 B727
Germany†††††††††††††††† 1 B757
Saudi Arabia††††††††††† 3 flights:2-C130,1-MD11
Belgium†††††††††††††††††† 2 flights:1-C130,1-AB310
Syria†††††††††††††††††††††† 1 IL76
Azarbaijan†††††††††††††† 1 TU
Oslovak†††††††††††††††††† 1 TU154
United state†††††††††††† 1C130
Finland††††††††††††††††††† 1 IL18
Greece††††††††††††††††††† 2 C130
Turkey†††††††††††††††††††† 1C130
Algeria†††††††††††††††††††† 1C130
Armanestan†††††††††††† 1 ANT24
Egypt††††††††††††††††††††† 1c130
Pakistan††††††††††††††††† 2C130
Azarbaijan†††††††††† ††††1 IL76
Morocco††††††††††††††††† 1C130
Bulgaria†††††††††††††††††† 1G328
The English translation at this Iranian aviation website
is almost amazingly bad.†
Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran
"Some survivers set on fire near their damaged houses to get worm and to lighten the area. The only wall-plag in Bam is at gas station and the people gather there to chery their celephanes."
This guy visited Bam two months ago to take extensive tourist
pictures of Bam's famous and highly frangible mud-brick structures.
People infallibly turn to religion at times of disaster,
even if they had already turned to religion just before
they got killed by an Act of God.
"Worry beads remain in the hand of a man who died praying"
It doesn't get much grimmer than these very frank and graphic
on-site photos of the dead of Bam. Brace yourself.
Unless, that is, the mujihadeen decide to leave their hideouts in northern Iran to go kill off the pagan unbeliever relief workers in Bam. They might, for instance, load stolen ambulances with mortar shells and blow them up, as they have done in Iraq.
Then it will, in fact, get lots grimmer in Bam.
The Detonating Ambulance Routine
Or, Iran might decide on a diplomatic thaw, because
the sympathetic world has proved kinder and more supportive than the Iranians ever expected, and they might knit-up
their strained relations with the pagans, and then
the Bam survivors might also get really practical, and start
building better-designed homes which don't fall down quite so horribly during earthquakes.
A Rational Way Forward to a Better Bam
Oh wait, what was I thinking?
